Thump Thump
by VividlyVisceral
Summary: "Do you love me?" A career boy struggles with his deranged District partner. Written for Project PULL and the District 14 monthly prompt "Love".


**A Vivid Note: **'LOVE'. Of all things, I fail at this subject the most. The fact I have someone to love who loves me back, and many others like family and friends who love me _does nothing _for the intense literary ineptitude I have in the subject.

Still, I needed to write something of 1000 words for "Project PULL"- although this work is 2000 words- _and_ this is the first District 14's monthly prompt challenge, and I want to be a part of the fun. So here is 'Love' and 'The Hunger Games', a la Vividly Visceral.

Kiss-Kiss,  
>Vivid.<p>

**Thump Thump**

"Don't you _love me?_"

Her lips hover above mine, just close enough so that her bottom lip almost brushes against my top lip when she speaks. I can feel her breath on my cheeks and her wild, manic eyes perforating deep into mine.

"Do I... do I love you...?"

My body ripples beneath hers with unease. While her face is fixed in a deranged expression of anticipation, her arms and her legs forcefully pin down my own. No matter how I choose to struggle, there'll be no getting away from her now. Not when she's become lost in this- this _horrifying_ fantasy.

Out of the corner of my right eye, I can barely see the bodies of the two career tributes. While my peripherals are blurred, I still know exactly what state they're in. While I may not have cared too much about them, it wasn't gratifying to see such a pair of previously formidable allies bludgeoned to death by my District partner.  
>The moonlight bounces off the flecks of the District 4 girl's blood that stain her cheeks. Seemingly oblivious to them, Terra leans in closely to my face, smiling. Seeing those droplets hanging off her skin makes me want to scramble backwards in disgust- but my body can't move. Not if I don't want to get stabbed.<p>

"Tarquin?" She whispers my name, nuzzling her nose into my cheek. "Please tell me... right now... please let everyone hear it..."

Hear what though? My heart pounds in my chest and my head rings with the screams that ended only moments before. Didn't they hear enough when I was shouting for her to stop smashing our companions' teeth down their throats? Wasn't it enough when the sound of Champion's gurgles sent this monstrous girl into a fit of hysterics?

What _more do they need to hear_?

"That's... Terra..." At the sound of her name, Terra softens and smiles. "...please get off me... please just... get _off_ me..."

But Terra doesn't move. Instead, she breathes in deeply along my jaw line. "Not until you finally say it... I want to hear you say it..."

The sky rumbles warningly above. The Gamemakers' are no doubt enjoying this scene more than all the killing we've done these Games. They always lap this sort of mess up. I never cared for it, but that was because I spent all those days in District 2 dreaming of my flawless victory.

This psychopathic, _love-sick _girl was never part of my plan.

"I... I don't really... I mean..."

I should just say it. Let this freak of a District partner believe that I give a shit about her. But what will happen then? Will she get off me, or will she expect more? What if this lunatic doesn't believe me and starts pulverising my face like she did to the others?  
>Everyone back home is probably screaming at me to say it and get it over with. Those Capitol idiots are probably cheering for it as well. Romance is hard to come by in the Hunger Games, and they love a good sex scene as much as the next group of sexually frustrated perverts.<p>

But they don't know this girl like I do. If I say 'Yes Terra, I love you', that won't be the end of it. She was unstable before- disembowelling that kid in the bloodbath for tripping over the knife she wanted and then wrenching out his intestines over the forest floor.

"_THIS IS WHAT YOU GET- YOU LITTLE SHIT-!_"

As careers, we should've realised that she wouldn't remain stable enough to trust. I guess we really screwed up on that one.

No way am I going to let her gut me like that. The knife is already in her hand, its handle digging into the groove of my elbow. If I just carelessly say those words, and she _doesn't _believe me... I'm going to have my head hacked off and put in that backpack of hers until the final cannon rings.

There's no way... no way I'll let that happen. I've been too clever to get to this point and be gutted and decapitated by this girl... I just need to be clever... just for a bit longer...

Breathing deeply, I exhale a shuddering breath as Terra's eyes move back to mine, shielding my face from the rest of the world with her curtain of black hair.

Black eyes gleaming, Terra grips my arms all the tighter. "Yes... Tarquin...?"

My voice shakes in my throat. Damn it. Tarquin, if you screw this up, I'll never forgive you. She's just a fanatic now. Her mind may be on the edge, but she's not thinking clearly. Exploit it. Exploit the hell out of this need for 'love'.

Inhaling, I feel a shaky smile break across my face.

"...Terra... can't you hear my heart...?"

Terra pauses, her smile disappearing. Without releasing my arms or legs, she pulls away and looks down at my chest, perplexed.

"Hear your heart?" The words are filled with a childish naivety. And caution. "...I think... I think I can..."

"Listen," I urge her, almost pleadingly. "Can't you hear it? Thump, thump... thump, thump. It won't stop..."

Sure enough, I feel one of Terra's hands relax. My left wrist can breathe again as Terra stares, almost determinedly at my chest, as if to see through my ribs and my skin to verify that my heart really is pounding as I say.

"...I can't hear it..." She murmurs, a little unsure. "Are you sure Tarquin...? Are you sure you aren't lying to me...?"

With that thought, her hands clamp down even tighter around my wrists than before. It takes all my willpower to bite back my gasp of pain. Don't show any fear. Don't show any pain Tarquin. This sick little girl wants someone who loves her. She doesn't think she's causing any pain, so don't show _any_.

"Why can't you believe me?" I let out a feeble laugh, like a boy who's been scorned. "All you have to do is listen. Thump, thump."

As childish as it is, at the words 'thump, thump' Terra's vice around me is soothed again. Looking into my eyes, her quivering lips form the words.

"...thump... thump...?"

Nodding slowly, I smile as gently as possible. "Listen Terra... I can't hide it... it won't stop beating, ever since you pinned me down... listen..."

This time, I don't say the words. I don't need to. Terra whispers them softly to herself, eyeing my chest as she did before. A tiny bit of panic begins to surface in my stomach, wondering if she's thinking of gouging out my heart to try and make certain that it really is making those childish sounds- but her eyes look back to me all too soon.

"...is it really...?" My District partner begins meekly, eyebrows curving. "...is Tarquin's heart really...?"

"The whole world can probably hear it," I whisper quietly, feigning embarrassment. "Please tell me... can't you hear it too...?"

Finally, I can feel the girl's body shift. Murmuring those magical words, I feel my heart leap as her head begins to retreat from mine. Trying to keep my breathing steady, I wait for the opportune moment as Terra presses her ear closely to my chest, her hands trembling to let go of my arms and smooth down my tributes' jacket.

"Thump... thump...?"

Slowly... surely... her fingers unlock around my arms... and her knees begin to slide from their positions... as I watch her close her eyes and listen intently to my heart. Drawing in one slow, rasping breath, I narrow my eyes as Terra's face begins to split into a smile, her eyes closed in this dream of hers.

"Yes... I... I can hear it-!" She begins, voice filling with excitement. "Tarqui-"

Before she can finish my name I dislodge my knee and send in smashing into her groin. While the attack isn't as efficient on a girl as it is a guy, the pain still does enough to make the girl let go of my arms in shock, dropping the knife to the ground. In a fraction of a second I let out a gut-wrenching roar as Terra shrieks in terror, scrambling on the ground for her knife as I hunch over her back.

She has no time to even try to swing at me.

Grabbing her hair, I screw up my face in anger and dig my nails into her scalp- my adrenaline building as my District partner screams in agony. Wasting no time, I forcibly pull her head back and send it smashing back into the forest floor.

"THUMP THUMP-!"

Her screams startle and crack as I slam her head repeatedly against the hard earth. It isn't until her thrashing begins to weaken that I allow myself two seconds to recuperate. While Terra has stopped screaming, I can still hear her breathing frantically. While I don't know what her face looks like, I can only assume that I've managed to break her nose and perhaps a few of her teeth, judging from the mess she's made.

"T-Tarquin..." Her voice startles me. I watch as her hand that hangs limply on the dirt begins to twitch. "...I'll... I'll..."

Suddenly I remember the forgotten knife, and as her hand lunges out to grab around for it, I reach around her head and grab it from the dirt from under her- resulting in her screaming once more.

"I'LL _KILL YOU_!"

But her thrashing is pointless now. And I've had enough of her.

In one swift movement I jam the dagger handle first into the ground, allowing the blade to point upwards towards Terra's blinded face. As she continues to scream, I tighten my hand over her skull one last time and breathe heavily.

"Thump, thump."

With one final shove, I crush her face over the dagger and force myself to hold her there as the screams transform into one, long inhuman gurgle. Whether it's Terra's body still trying to scream, or trying to form more deranged words, I'll never know. Not that I care. I never cared. Not about her.

As Terra's cannon booms and I step away from her body, I hear the hovercrafts buzz above me like hungry flies. They've held off from picking up our two allies because of the drama, but now that Terra is dead, they want me to get lost so they can pick up the bodies. But not before I take back what I need.

I scoop up all the decent loot I can find on Champion and the District 4 girl. Giving my fallen careers a nod before I leave, I turn at last to Terra and- as I slowly reach to roll her over and retrieve the dagger- I stop myself.

Terra enjoyed messing with corpses. Pulling out their organs and making a mess, but not me. Let her keep her filthy dagger. I don't want it. I'm not that hateful to take away the one thing she really loved most.

Swinging the bow over my shoulder and Champion's sword, I stride away until I'm a good enough distance from the massacre to watch them be airlifted away. Champion is taken away first, followed by the District 4 girl. Once they're safely recovered and the hovercraft speeds away, the second hovercraft finally lowers its claw and picks up Terra.

I watch quietly as the shadowy figure is lifted away, wincing only when I see the moonlight bounce off the blade still dug deep into what must be the roof of her mouth.

And, without really realising, I find myself murmuring up at this disgraceful corpse- my mind filling with all the images I had of her from the reaping, the chariots, training and the interviews, stealing glances and flashing flirty little smiles my way-

"Thump, thump."

_I never gave you any reason to believe that I loved you Terra. _

**End.**


End file.
